He frankly spoke about the incompetence of the Virginia Company’s leadership, which hurt his chances to elevate his reputation. In Percy’s writings, he “corroborates and even adds to Smith’s criticisms of the colonists and other leaders in order to make himself seem less responsible for the colony’s misery” (Lehman 237). Additionally, he spoke out about the company’s main goal of seeking gold and abusing the undeveloped land without much regard for the consequences. Alden Vaughn describes Smith’s characteristics as, “a hard-working, hard-fighting soldier who cared deeply about his nation’s expansion into the forests of America and who recorded its progress as faithfully as he could” and because of this “America found a prototype of itself: bold, energetic, and optimist; at the same time brass, intolerant, overly proud of its achievements, and overly solicitous of approval” (190). Surprisingly, Smith was only in America for two years, but in those few years while he was there, he managed to establish a surviving colony and create an ongoing legacy which shows him to be one of the best representatives of America’s
He frankly spoke about the incompetence of the Virginia Company’s leadership, which hurt his chances to elevate his reputation. In Percy’s writings, he “corroborates and even adds to Smith’s criticisms of the colonists and other leaders in order to make himself seem less responsible for the colony’s misery” (Lehman 237). Additionally, he spoke out about the company’s main goal of seeking gold and abusing the undeveloped land without much regard for the consequences. Alden Vaughn describes Smith’s characteristics as, “a hard-working, hard-fighting soldier who cared deeply about his nation’s expansion into the forests of America and who recorded its progress as faithfully as he could” and because of this “America found a prototype of itself: bold, energetic, and optimist; at the same time brass, intolerant, overly proud of its achievements, and overly solicitous of approval” (190). Surprisingly, Smith was only in America for two years, but in those few years while he was there, he managed to establish a surviving colony and create an ongoing legacy which shows him to be one of the best representatives of America’s